James Harden's phone was squawking again. It had been yowling at him for weeks, ever since his implosion in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, when the most efficient offensive player in the NBA had wilted in the most critical game of his life. Most of the communication he'd received was sympathetic. Text messages like "u OK?" or "stay strong," even "praying for u." Harden had dodged it all by simply not responding, but it was harder to ignore the criticism that had seemingly obliterated his season. Remember his league-leading 15 win shares? Remember how he was the first player in NBA history with 2,000 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds? All forgotten, reduced to rubble in the wake of his inexplicable collapse. In that elimination loss on May 11, a 39-point beatdown at home, Harden appeared so discombobulated that speculation mounted that he'd played concussed after an errant Pau Gasol elbow the game before. Harden rejected that notion, assumed full responsibility for the debacle -- including his 2-for-11 shooting, 6 fouls and 6 turnovers -- then retreated to Atlanta for some privacy and reflection. "Sometimes," Harden says, "I want to sit in my little box and be left alone." Now, on June 25, Harden was dining with friends in LA when his phone lit up. Again. He glanced at his caller ID and excused himself from the table. "Gotta take this one," he said. When he stepped outside, the name on the screen gleamed back at him: Chris Paul. "I'm in," Paul said. "What do you mean you're in?" Harden asked. Harden and Paul were friends, and they had traded texts throughout the season. CP3, he knew, was examining his pending free agent options, and Harden was hopeful Houston was on Paul's short list, but he was in the dark about where Paul was leaning. "I mean I'm in," Paul repeated. "I want to come to Houston. I want to play with you." http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...e-story-how-houston-rockets-landed-chris-paul
Some great stuff in there. My take: - CP3 made the decision by himself that Houston was best for him, nobody really convinced him with either this or that - Morey made CP3 a bobble-head, that's some funny stuff - Harden and MDA both allowed the MVP chase to distract them from the bigger goal - Harden honestly feels he let the team down in game 6 and owns up to some of his shortcomings to how he dealt with Dwight - Harden will not necessarily do things he's not comfortable with and just wants to play the way he likes to play, so basically I don't expect much off the ball movement and still a lot of forced threes since he wants to - MDA, Morey and company laid down the law with regards to minutes which I like, but let's see how it plays out as MDA doesn't have the stones to tell Harden no I think. In the article he says he will say no and look at the plan we drew up and agreed upon. - Harden and CP3 will only play 18 minutes together, which is not a lot and I hope they re-consider - Harden and CP3 are really doing everything they can so far to make this duo and team successful off the court, so let's hope it translates on the court
oh ****, my bad...I had seen the article on Reddit and then made a thread...didn't even realize that it had already been posted
CP3 is going to lite James up for playing that ole defense (when he doesn't move his feet to try and stay in front of the man he is defending)! I would also like to see James play off the ball more and become the 2nd ball handler and 1st when Chris goes to the bench. Too many turnovers by James that are sloppy and unnecessary.
To Harden, it looked like a weapon to fight the Warriors. When Morey next called him, at 4:15 a.m., Harden emitted "a little happy noise," then immediately asked his GM, "Who we getting next?" So Harden wanted more than just CP, and Morey failed him.
Vague thread titles often lead to double posting. Love ya knote32, and thx for putting in the work to add the vids, too.
Only on Clutchfans where we do a 5-for-1HOF trade, and people complain we gave away too much. Any other year and people would look for midseason trades to add onto the big 2.
You are about the only honest and most unbiased poster here alive. Keep the FTW_rockets_FTw legacy alive. He is watching us from heaven and spotting us on every rep.
Considering him and his son liked it enough to not only keep it, but also hang on to it the entire time, obviously not as cringe-worthy as you think.